Algernon Austin

Research Associate, Former Director of the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy program

BiographyAlgernon Austin is the former director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy (PREE). As the first director of PREE, Austin built the program over six years into a nationally recognized source for expert reports and policy analyses on the economic condition of America’s people of color. He has discussed racial inequality on the “PBS NewsHour,” CNN, the “Tavis Smiley Show,” NPR, and on other nationally syndicated television and radio programs. He is currently writing a book on race and attitudes toward President Obama. Prior to joining the Economic Policy Institute, Austin was a senior fellow at the Dēmos think tank and assistant director of research at the Foundation Center. From 2001 to 2005, he served on the faculty of Wesleyan University.

Despite making some strides in recovering from a long history of subjugation, American Indians still suffer economically. In particular, they have employment rates far below those of whites, both in the country overall and at the state level.

The Great Recession has kept the American Indian unemployment rate above 10 percent for five years. The American Indian unemployment situation is particularly bad in the Midwest, Northern Plains, and Southwest.

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Fifty years later, the hard economic goals of the march, critical to transforming the life opportunities of African Americans, have not been fully achieved.

Large infrastructure projects would provide a substantial share of jobs for Latinos and African Americans, and wisely chosen projects could also begin to decrease persistent Hispanic-white and black-white unemployment gaps.

The unemployment forecast for 2013 is stagnation: For whites, Latinos, and African Americans, year-end 2013 unemployment projections show essentially no improvement from the high levels that prevailed at the end of 2012.

This month, the National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) Monthly Latino Unemployment Report focuses on the important issue of underemployment. “Underemployment,” as The State of Working America states, is “a more comprehensive measure of slack in the labor market than unemployment.”
The book goes on:
Underemployment includes workers who meet the official definition of unemployment as well as: 1) those who are working part time but want and are available to work full time (“involuntary” part timers), and 2) those who want and are available to work and have looked for work in the last year but have given up actively seeking work (“marginally attached” workers).

For-profit colleges prey on the poorest students while generating a great deal of wealth to shareholders, owners, and CEOs. Figure A shows that in 2008, the median family income of students attending for-profit colleges was $22,932.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions released a report this week on how many for-profit colleges prey on the most vulnerable students while enriching their shareholders, owners, and CEOs.

A crumbling infrastructure is bad for business. Just ask business owners in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. Recently, a water main broke in downtown Baltimore and shut down streets and caused major traffic delays. A number of businesses were forced to close, and those near the break that remained open saw fewer customers.

In 2011, the nationwide African American unemployment rate stood at 15.9 percent—and in several of the country's large metropolitan areas, the black unemployment rate was significantly higher. The Las Vegas and Los Angeles metropolitan areas had the highest black unemployment rates, at 22.6 percent and 21.1 percent, respectively.

In 2011, the nationwide Hispanic unemployment rate stood at 11.5 percent—and in several of the country's large metropolitan areas, the Hispanic unemployment rate was significantly higher. With a Hispanic unemployment rate of 23.3 percent, the Providence, R.I., metro area had the highest rate in 2011 of all metro areas examined.

The Federal Reserve’s report on family wealth released last Monday illustrates how severely the Great Recession has hurt middle-class families. Median family net worth (assets minus debt) fell to levels not experienced since 1992.

Sign up to stay informed

Track EPI on Twitter

Economic Policy Institute

EPI is an independent, nonprofit think tank that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on working people in the United States. EPI’s research helps policymakers, opinion leaders, advocates, journalists, and the public understand the bread-and-butter issues affecting ordinary Americans.